Secret Pasts, Secret LivesPART 1
by Clove
Summary: [COMPLETED]Catherine's a new Hogwarts student, starting her 6th year..her mother was called back to England to take part in The Order, and avoid her father. Cate however, has to suffer with him every day...Post OOTP
1. Default Chapter

**Disclaimer:**_ I do not own Harry, Ron, Hermione, Hogwarts, or any of the creations in this story, except for: Catherine, Elena, and Professor Beckinsale._

**Authors Note: **_The first chapter's not that great, it's gets better! I promise!!_

**Chapter 1**

_Another year at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry had started. Harry, Ron and Hermione's sixth year to be exact. All the students were now seated at their house tables, and the first years had just been sorted._

_As Professor McGonagall carried the hat and stool out of the hall, Dumbledore stood up at his spot at the staff table. Silence fell over the hall as the students waited for him to begin his speech._

"_Good evening to you all, and welcome back to Hogwarts. As you may have noticed, there are some different things about our Opening Feast this year." He spoke softly, gestured to the billowing red, stage curtain behind him. The curtain was covering the area where the teachers usually ate, and it looked more like a stage than it usually did. (The staff table had been moved farther down, closer to the house tables.) "For the next two years, and possibly longer, we will have some very special guests joining us. They come from Flueracot's School of Witchcraft and Wizardry in Canada, which offers an International Level dance program. They have selected their top ten dancers to work and perform with us this year. Two of the young ladies are in their sixth year, and two In their seventh, the rest have already finished their schooling. The four who are still completing their education will be doing it here, they have previously been sorted into their houses, rules and dress code have already been discussed. I would like you to note that they will not be wearing robes, and you need not remind them, they are only needed to dress entirely in black for their stay._

_Along with this, two of the ladies have volunteered to teach a dance program for any Hogwarts students who are interested." Dumbledore paused briefly, signifying that he had completed this topic. "I would also like to welcome Professor Beckinsale, out new Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher." A warm welcome applause filled the hall, and then died down. "And now, we have a performance from the Flueracot dancers."_

_Professor Dumbledore backed out of the way of the magical stage, taking his seat at the staff table._

_The velvety curtain glided upwards smoothly, revealing five young ladies, dressed in black dance pants, white halter tops, tap shoes, and stylish hats. Music started out of what seemed like nowhere, and they began dancing. The show piece started with a routine that began with tap, with only half the team, then changed to jazz, using the whole team (a total of ten)._

_When the ladies completed the performance, a roar of applause filled the great hall, louder than ever before. The group ran gracefully off the stage, the applause continued for at least another two minutes. Over at the staff table, Dumbledore stood up, the hall quieted slowly._

"_And now, on with the feast." He said, and, on cue, the golden platters on all the house tables filed with food._

_Over at the Gryffindor table, Ron, Harry, Seamus, Dean and Neville were in deep conversation while Hermione and Ginny watched in disgust as the young men shoveled down their food._

"_I hope some of them are in our house." Seamus commented about the dancers, while forcing a spoonful of mashed potatoes into his already full mouth._

"_Yeah!" Ron replied, "The sixth years would be nice."_

"_True that!" Dean responded, raising his goblet before drinking._

_Not even a minute after, the four of the dancers who were still in school came walking into the Great Hall. The two seventh years continued, to the Ravenclaw table, while the two sixth years stopped at Gryffindor's, sitting not to far away from the people who had just been talking about them. They had chosen to sit with Lavender Brown and Parvati Patil. _

_One of them looked older than sixteen, with dark, sleek black hair that fell just to her shoulder blades. Her puppy-dog like, deep brown eyes were gorgeous, as was her smile. She was already in a deep conversation with Lavender. The other girl looked exactly sixteen, her shining red hair was just above her shoulders, her blue eyes glittered in the magical light of the Great Hall._

_Ron looked at the dark-haired one, puzzled for a few minutes, then, shouted out to his friends_

"_Oi! That's one of Charlie's friends." Then, across the table to her, "Hey! Catherine!" She looked up, smiling when she saw who had called her name._

"_Ron!" She called, jumping up from her seat and walking over to him "How are you?"_

"_I'm pretty good." He replied, "I didn't know you went to Flueracot's! I thought you went somewhere in Europe."_

"_Nope." She smiled, "I was in London until I was one and a half, then I and mum moved to Canada."_

"_Were you supposed to go to Hogwarts?" Hermione cut in abruptly._

"_If I had still been in London, yes." Catherine replied coolly, flicking her dark hair behind her shoulder._

"_Are you a sixth year?" Ron went on as if there had been no interruption. She sighed lightly._

"_Yes." Then looked around, "Are you going to introduce me to your friends?"_

"_Oh! Right!" Ron whipped around to the table. "This is Seamus, Dean, Hermione, Neville, Ginny." He gestured to each person as he named them, "And of course, you'll know Harry." A look of utter confusion took over Catherine's face._

"_I'm sorry, who?" The faces she had been introduced to stared back at her in awe._

"_Harry Potter." Ron repeated, "The only known person to ever defeat You-Know-Who!"_

"_Oh! Yes, I have heard of you." She stated to Harry, then turned to the rest of them. "I'm Catherine. You can call me Cate." She waved, smiled brightly, then went back to her spot and continued talking with Lavender. _


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2**

_The morning sun poured through the school while students made their way down to breakfast. Lavender, Parvati and Catherine were already close friends. But, as the two had already eaten, Cate sat with Harry, Ron and Hermione as the sixth year schedules were passed out. _

"_Oh great." Ron grumbled, "Double potions first thing."_

"_What's so bad about potions?" Cate asked from her spot across the table, "It's a rather good class if you ask me."_

"_It's more of a problem with the Professor than the subject itself." Harry replied._

"_Who's the Professor?"_

"_Snape." Harry pointed to her timetable. Catherine coughed up her juice when she saw the name 'Severus Snape' staring back at her._

"_I'll be back later." She said quickly, grabbing her timetable and rushing from the Great Hall. The young woman walked quickly down the hallway until she reached Professor McGonagall's office. Late in August, before school had begun, Professor McGonagall had allowed Catherine to use her office's fire to travel by floo to her mother._

_Stepping inside the office, Cate dropped her school bag and picked up her timetable from inside it. She then reached for some floo powder, tossing it into the fire._

"_Number twelve, Grimmauld Place." She said loudly and clearly as she stepped into the flames._

_Everything was suddenly swirling and spinning wildly around her, then, it stopped, and she toppled onto the living room of Grimmauld Place. Not even a second after she had stood up, a woman came into the room._

"_Catherine?" She questioned, the woman was strikingly beautiful, with long, semi-wavy at the ends, black hair that dropped just above her elbows. It was Catherine's mother. "What are you doing here?" (As they came from Canada, and Elena was put into the Order, she stays at Grimmauld Place)._

"_I found him."_

"_Found who?"_

"_Elena, what's going on?" Reamus Lupin then stuck his head in the door, his eyes stopped on Cate. "Ah . . . this must be your daughter."_

"_Uh . . . yes it is." Elena then turned back to Catherine. "Who did you find?"_

"_Severus." The young woman spoke her own father's name with an ice-cold tone in her voice._

"_Come with me." Elena grabbed her daughter's arm, pulling her into the kitchen. "Sit down." They both sat. "How do you know it's him? You haven't seen him since you were one and a half."_

"_This." Cate slid her timetable across the table, pointing at her first class. Elena looked down upon it._

"_Well, there's no joke about this." She stated, then muttered to herself. "It's been sixteen years of searching for him. To think, an old death eater, teaching at Hogwarts." The woman looked up suddenly when Lupin walked into the room. "Reamus, who decides who's in the Order?" He paused in his step, stunned by her question._

"_Well, it's a matter of choice really. If the person is of age, and has finished schooling, then they're welcome to join."_

"_Elena, if you're getting any ideas about Catherine, I'm afraid the answer is no." Arthur Weasley spoke up from the other end of the table._

"_Arthur." She said sternly, "Think about this. Cate's in the same tower as Ron, Harry and Hermione. She's in all their classes, has contact with teachers, and us. As we just moved back here, no one will recognize her."_

"_She's not of age." He replied._

"_Yes I am." Catherine said quietly. "Professor McGonagall spoke to me before term started, she said that because I was in Gryffindor, and had constant contact with The Order, I was put back into sixth years. She wanted me to keep an eye of Harry Ron and Hermione." Elena looked up at Arthur, a smug look on her face._

"_Well?" She asked. Arthur sighed heavily._

"_I guess." He gave in. "As long as Catherine's up to it." Cate nodded._

"_Then it's all set." Elena spoke. Cate smiled, looking up at the clock on the kitchen wall._

"_Oh no!" She cried, jumping up from her chair, "I'm already late!" Cate hurried back to the fire, tossed some floo powder into the fire. "Professor McGonagall's office, Hogwarts School." She stepped into the flames, and after a series of spinning, arrived back in McGonagall's office. Catherine grabbed her bag and hurried out into the near-empty hallway. As it was her first day of classes, it took her a while to find Snape's classroom. By the time she got there, she was twenty-five minutes late. After taking a deep breath, Catherine pulled open the dungeon door, walking into the room._

_The entire class looked up, Snape did as well. He seemed to jump a little when he saw Cate standing infront of him._

"_How nice of you to join us Catherine." Snape greeted, his voice as cold as usual._

"_Good morning to you to Severus." Cate replied cooly as the man's eyes hardened._

"_Take your seat." He gestured to an empty desk beside Hermione. Unwillingly, Catherine took her seat._

_Inside her head, thoughts were shooting everywhere, about every last thing. It had been sixteen years since Severus had ran out on her and Elena. They waited five days before fleeing to Canada to escape Voldemort. Catherine had grown up without a father, and had to watch her mother raise her single-handed. Which, she had to admit, had been a struggle. Anger filled Cate at this point. Suddenly, the bell rang, shaking her out of her trance. She shoved her books into her bag, and hurried out of the classroom._


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3**

_Four more days had passed. After a week and Hogwarts, Catherine found that she was getting along good with the change of environment. With the exception of Severus._

_Potions class had been more of a pain to her than to anyone else. Even though she and Severus were very closely related, they still seemed to hate each other._

_The bell signifying lunch, and the end of classes rang, as the Gryffindor's filed out of charms. (It was Friday, and students got Friday afternoons off). Students poured out of their classes, heading into the Great Hall for lunch._

_Catherine, Parvati, and Lavender walked together up to the Gryffindor table. Lavender and Parvati sat as Cate picked up an already made sandwich._

"_You're not staying?" Lavender asked._

"_No." Care replied, "I've got some work to catch up on."_

"_Oh. Okay. Well, we'll see you later in the common room right?"_

"_Yeah." Catherine waved to her friends, then left the Hall. The young woman continued through a series of hallways until she reached the Defence Against the Dark Arts room. Knocking on the closed, wooden door, she waited._

"_Come on in." Professor Beckinsale's voice called, Cate opened the door, and entered the room, closing the door behind her. "Cate, I'm glad you could come."_

"_All right." She replied nervously. "Can I ask why you wanted to see me?" Catherine sat on a desk top as Professor Beckinsale placed down his quill._

"_Well, throughout the week, it appeared that you were falling a bit behind."_

"_Excuse me?" Cate stood up suddenly, appalled at the teacher's remarks. _

"_Cate, please. I just wanted to check in. From what I've heard, the curriculum is a bit different in Canada. I just wanted to see how things were doing." Catherine sighed heavily, sitting back down._

"_I'm doing fine. I'm probably slacking off a bit more than usual, but it's the first week back. And I'm at a different school." Not to mention, she had already taken the course, but, she wasn't allowed to say that._

"_All right." Professor Beckinsale smiled, "You may go." Catherine stood up, walking toward the door, pausing as she opened it._

"_You know what?" She turned back to face him, "I could use some extra help."_

"_Okay . . . " He paused, "Are Friday afternoons starting next week at four p.m. good?"_

"_Of course." Cate smiled as she left the class, heading to the common room._

_As the portrait hole swung shut behind her, Hermione looked up from a roll of parchment._

"_Not hungry?" She asked._

"_Already ate, and I've got a lot of work to do." Cate replied, dropping down into a cushy arm chair, taking her potions essay out of her bag and beginning to work._

_Within the next twenty minutes, the essay was completed, and Cate had started on a transfiguration assignment. Add on another ten minutes, and Catherine was finished that as well._

"_Are you done already?" Hermione asked as the young woman packed up her papers._

"_Yeah." Cate replied, "Just because you think I don't pay any attention in class doesn't mean I don't learn the stuff."_

"_But . . . but you just wrote two essays in half an hour."_

"_I know. It's easy stuff Hermione, it doesn't take a lot of effort."_

"_Have you already learnt this? Are the levels different in Canada?"_

"_No. If I had learnt it already, I would be in seventh year." Catherine replied cooly before hurrying up the stairs to the girls dormitory._


	4. Chapter 4

_**Chapter 4**_

_Hogwarts school and its grounds were now covered in a thick blanket of snow. It was early November, Monday, the weekend had been filled with laughter as everyone ran around the grounds playing and throwing snowballs. _

_Now however, the Gryffindor's and Slytherin's were filing into Snape's classroom, not looking forward to the lesson ahead of them._

_Catherine however, was in Professor McGonagall's office, speaking to her mother_

"_How has it been going?" Elena asked._

"_It's been pretty good. As I've already done this year, classes are really easy."_

"_Anything weird going on with Harry or his friends?"_

"_No." Cate replied, confused at the question. "Why would I know?"_

"_Catherine!" Elena cried, then lowered her voice, "You're in The Order, you're supposed to be paying attention to any weird activity that could be going on."_

"_Oh! Right!" She sighed, "I haven't seen anything."_

"_How's Severus?" Cate looked up at her mother, an eyebrow raised._

"_He's my teacher. I don't know anything more about him than anyone else does."_

"_Does it seem like his left forearm has been bothering him?"_

"_Huh?"_

"_His left forearm. During classes does his hand fly to it out of nowhere, like he's in pain?"_

"_Kind of. In the middle of class last week, he was rubbing his arm." Elena's eyes widened._

"_That's interesting."_

"_Mom, please, I highly doubt his dark mark is bothering him. I mean, Voldemort already has his death eaters."_

"_Yes, but there's two alive that we know he's missing, and Severus is one of them."_

"_So?"_

"_So?! He wants as many people as possible! Just because two didn't return to him doesn't mean he doesn't still want them. Reamus told us a few days ago that any Death Eaters who have children are to brand them with the dark mark. His way, the kids are in pain until they give in. All the parents have to do is grab their child's left arm while their mark is burning."_

"_Does Severus know this?"_

"_He has no idea. He hasn't been in contact with The Order since we came over."_

_At that moment, the door to McGonagall's office opened, and Professor McGonagall herself walked in._

"_Elena? I didn't know you were here." She stated, then looked down at Cate. "Catherine, classes started forty minutes ago." Cate's stomach lurched._

"_You're kidding!" She shouted, jumping up and grabbing her bag. "He's going to kill me!" With hat, she flew out of the office, running down to the dungeons. She pulled open the door, walking into the room, and sitting down in her seat._

"_Catherine." Severus said cooly, "You're forty minutes late to my class. May I ask why?"_

"_No." She replied strongly, leaning back in her desk and crossing her arms._

"_All right. Did you complete your essay?" Cate pulled five rolls of parchment from her bag, walked up to Snape's desk and slammed it down._

"_Happy?" She sneered before returning to her seat, crossing her arms and leaning back. Snape glared at her for a second, then turned back to the board and continued writing notes. Twenty minutes later, he turned around to find Catherine exactly as he had left her, with none of her books out._

"_Catherine," He stepped toward her, "You were forty minutes late to me class. It's been twenty minutes, and your books aren't even on your desk. You're supposed to be writing the notes down."_

"_Your point?" Cate shook her long hair behind her shoulders. "I don't have any interest in this class."_

"_Are you saying that you don't like my teaching style? That I'm a bad teacher?" The young woman stood up, inched away from Snape._

"_No." She said calmly, "I'm saying that you're a self-centered git who has no feeling for anyone apart from yourself." Snape's hand twitched, his eyes hardened. "What?" Cate sneered, "Too afraid to do anything about this? Are you a coward too?" His hand twitched again and before he knew what he was doing, he had hit her. In an instant, she had backhanded him in return. Gasps echoed around the class. Snape flicked his wand, a quill scribbled on a piece of parchment, it then flew into his hand._

"_Take this to Professor McGonagall and get out of my class." His voice was cold as stone._

"_Gladly." Catherine snatched the note, and her bag, then stormed out of the room._

_As she approached Professor McGonagall's office, the door opened, and Minerva appeared._

"_Catherine, why aren't you in class?"_

"_This is for you." She handed her the parchment. McGonagall's eyes darted across it._

"_Get into my office. Sit." They both sat. Cate looked up, Minerva was looking at her with a disappointed look from over her desk. "You hit Professor Snape?"_

"_I hit him back." She replied strongly._

"_What?" McGonagall shouted, "He hit you? Teachers are forbidden to lay a hand on students."_

"_Well...I did provoke him . . . maybe just a tad." The woman whipped around._

"_What did you do?"'_

"_Well, first I was late, then, not caring about the lesson. Then I uh . . . called him a self-centered git, and a coward." McGonagall dropped down into her chair._

"_Did he give you detention? Yell at you? Anything?"_

"_No." Cate shook her head. "Nothing. He just sent me to you."_

"_All right." She sighed heavily, "You're free to go. And please, watch what goes on between you and Severus. We can't afford to have you expelled."_

"_I will. Thank-you Professor." Catherine stood up, leaving the office._


	5. Chapter 5

**Chapter 5**

_The next day at four in the afternoon, Catherine walked into Professor Beckinsale's room, dropping her bag at her feet as she sat on a desktop._

"_Good afternoon Care." The professor greeted, smiling at her._

"_Same to you." She replied, also smiling brightly. Professor Beckinsale walked around to the side of his desk closest to Cate._

"_So, did you understand the material we covered yesterday?" He asked, leaning back against his desk._

"_Kind of." The young woman replied, flicking her hair behind her head, "Some extra work would help."_

"_Really now?" Beckinsale reached behind him on his desk, picking up a piece of parchment. "I've just finished marking your essay on it, and you got full marks."_

"_Oh!" Cate replied, acting surprises, "I guess I understood it better than I thought."_

"_I would have given you a mark above the total, but that's not allowed." He stood up properly, inching toward her. "Catherine, I know you haven't been coming for extra help. Your marks are among the highest in the school."_

"_Why else would I have come for an hour every week for the past three months" She replied nervously. Professor Beckinsale was right of course, why would she need help? The first time Cate saw him, she thought he was gorgeous, and he was only in his early-twenties. She had surprised even herself when she had agreed to extra help. She usually didn't sink that low. However, the more she got to know the man, the more she liked him. He couldn't possibly know, could he?_

"_Cate, I think we both know why you've been coming." Before she had time to reply, and before she knew what was happening, his lips were up against hers. And she was kissing him back._

"_Professor . . . " She started, "This can't happen. You could be fired, and I could be expelled!"_

"_Not if no one finds out." Catherine looked up into his light brown eyes._

"_Um . . . Okay." She agreed, even though her mother's voice was ringing in her head. Beckinsale smiled._

"_I'll see you in a week." He said as Cate picked up her bag._

"_Make it two, Professor, I've got extra dance next Friday, and you'll see me in class."_

"_All right. See you later, and, please, call me Gabe." He smiled, the two hugged, and Catherine hurried up to the common room._

"_Where were you?" Ron asked as she sat down in the empty armchair between him and Harry._

"_Getting some help with defence." She replied._

"_Didn't you get full marks on the last two assignments we did?" Harry questioned._

"_No." Cate defended, "What's new with you two?" She turned to Harry first._

"_Not much." He responded, sighing lightly, "School's been putting a lot of work on me, but I'm pulling through." He then lowered his voice, "I had another one of those dreams a couple of nights ago."_

"_What happened?" Cate asked, leaning in a bit closer._

"_It was in this strange house, I know I've seen it before, but this time, it was filled with people. Voldemort and his death eaters, and some other people dressed in all black, like the death eaters. They were younger, around our age. They had bruises on their arms, which looked like hand prints." Harry stopped, signifying that he was done._

"_That's interesting." Catherine said, thinking hard, trying to decipher it._

"_What'd'you think the hand prints mean?" Ron asked, his eyes wide. Cate's mind flew immediately to what her mother had said the other day._

'_...any death eaters who had children are to brand them with the dark mark . . . '_

"_Of course!" She gasped, jumping up._

"_What?!" Harry and Ron shouted._

"_Nothing." Catherine replied, leaving the common room_

_The young woman ran down the hallways of the school until she reached Professor McGonagall's office. Panting heavily, she knocked on the door._

"_Yes?" McGonagall asked as she pulled the door open._

"_I need to use your fire."_

"_Go right ahead." She stepped out of the way._

"_Thanks." Cate smiled, entering the office. Within a matter of seconds, she was at Grimmauld place. "Mum?!" She called._

"_Kitchen!" Elena's voice called back. When Cate entered the room, Elena looked up from her paperwork. "Yes?"_

"_Voldemort's going to have all the death eaters he needs soon."_

"_How do you know?"_

"_Harry had one of his dreams, he said that there were younger looking death eaters that had hand prints bruised on their arms."_

"_Is that all?"_

"_Yes." Elena searched through her pile of papers for a blank piece, quickly scribbled something down, then turned back to her daughter as Cate sat down._

"_What about Severus? Was his arm bothering him more than usual?"_

"_I wouldn't know. I didn't have potions today, and I was only in his class for twenty minutes yesterday."_

"_Catherine!" Elena was now annoyed, "Don't tell me you got kicked out of his class."_

"_It was for a good reason."_

"_What did you do?"_

"_Well . . . " Cate went on to explain the whole situation to her mother._

"_How could he do this to you?"_

"_Mum, he kicked me out of class, it's nothing."_

"_I meant the fact that he hit you. Teachers are forbidden to lay a hand on students, and not to mention he's your father, for Christ's sake. Parents are NEVER supposed to hit their children. Did he get in trouble for it?"_

"_No." Catherine paused, "When you say that teachers are forbidden to lay a hand on students, does that apply in all aspects and situations."_

"_Of course."_

"_Even if the student was of age?" Elena looked across the table at her daughter, an eyebrow raised._

"_You certainly are my child." She smiled._

"_What do you mean?"_

"_Cate, what you just said gave away that you're either seeing a teacher, or are thinking of it." Cate blushed. "See?" Elena smiled, "You should get back, dinner will start soon."_

"_You're right." Catherine stood up, hugged Elena, then left Grimmauld Place._


	6. Chapter 6

**Chapter 6**

_The weekend passed quickly, filled with students doing homework, studying and writing many essays. Thankfully (for most) it was now over, and classes were beginning._

_Parvati and Catherine were walking together on their way to potions, talking about the events of Snape's last class._

"_I cannot believe he hit you," Pavarti stated as they walked down a long flight of stairs, "And didn't get in trouble for it."_

"_Well, you've got to remember, that I did call him a git, and hit him back." Cate replied._

"_True."_

"_Anyway, it doesn't matter, neither of us got in any trouble, so it's fine."_

"_You do know that you're basically famous for it."_

"_For hitting him?"_

"_For standing up to him. No one has ever stood up to him, we're all too scared. But you aren't."_

"_Yeah, but I know he's not going to punish me."_

"_Why's that?"_

"_I don't know." Catherine replied as they neared Snape's classroom. The two stopped talking as they walked passed him into the class. Cate felt his eyes burning into her as she took her seat. Snape slammed the door shut when he entered the room, walking up to the front._

"_Turn to page three-hundred and forty-nine." He ordered. Around the class, books opened, and papers flipped around. Beside Catherine, Hermione muttered to herself._

"_Truth potions?" Cate looked down at the text book infront of her. One side of the page held truth potions, it was page three-hundred and forty-eight. Three-forty-nine held information on how to reveal animaguses through potions._

"_No Miss Granger, I said page three hundred and forty-nine." Severus replied cooly, "Take four sheets of notes on this subject. When you're done that, write up how to make the potion. That should take the remainder of the period." The class took out quills and parchment, and began to read and write. _

_Halfway through the class, Professor Snape looked up, and saw that Catherine's books were closed, off to the side of her desk. However, a single piece of parchment was still there, and she was scribbling away furiously. Snape stood up from his desk, walking down the aisle to her desk. Cate looked up as he stopped._

"_Yes?" She asked._

"_Step outside the room." Cate flipped her parchment over and followed him outside into the hall._

"_What did I do this time?" She asked as he closed the door._

"_Have you completed your assignment already?"_

"_Yes."_

"_What were you working on?" The young woman paused, she had been doing a write-up on work for The Order. Her thinking was rushed, trying to think of something that wouldn't get in her trouble . . . then . . . she remembered something. Severus was in The Order._

"_I was doing some work for The Order." Catherine replied, looking up at him._

"_How did you manage to get into there?"_

"_Mum." The look on Snape's face changed dramatically. A look no one had ever seen before was now there._

"_Elena came with you?"'_

"_Yes. She's been here since late August."_

"_But that doesn't answer my question of how you got into The Order."_

"_That remains to be none of your business. Until you go back to The Order, you won't be told anything." Cate turned back to the door, her hand on the handle. "And I suggest you don't do that anytime soon. Mum's still pretty pissed off at you." She turned and entered the room, taking her seat once again. Snape walked past her, not sparing a glance. Hermione leaned over to Catherine._

"_How did you finish so fast?" She asked._

"_I've told you before, I'm a fast worker." Cate replied, turned away from the girl, flipped over her parchment, and continued writing. Every so often, for the remainder of class, Catherine would feel Severus's prying eyes upon her. She knew he was trying to figure everything out, and by the looks of it, he was having a hard time. Finally, the bell rang and the students filled out of the dungeons, heading for lunch, and then Defence Against the Dark Arts._

_The lesson itself was rather boring, not even five minutes in, Pavarti slipped a piece of paper under the desk to Catherine. She unfolded it under her own desk._

'_What did Snape do you when he pulled you out of Potions?'_ _Cate picked up her quill, placing it to the parchment_

'_He told me that I should be using class time productively. I told him I had already completed the assignment and he told me to watch my back.' The young woman passed it back to her friend. Within a few seconds, Pavarti passed it back._

'_Oh, okay. What are you doing after class? We should do something.'_

'_Professor McGonagall wanted to see me. Sorry, I'll be up in the Great Hall for dinner, or possibly before that.' Cate wrote, then passed it back to Pavarti. Pavarti wrote, then passed it back. Just as Cate wrapped her hand around the parchment, Professor Beckinsale's voice echoed throughout the room._

"_Catherine, step outside the room please." He ordered. Cate stuffed the note into her back pocket, and followed him out of the class, closing the door behind her._

"_Yes Professor?" She asked raising an eyebrow._

"_You were passing notes in my class?"_

"_Yes."_

"_May I see it?" Cate sighed, reached into her pocket, pulled out the note and handed it to the man. Beckinsale's eyes darted across the paper, he then handed it back to her. "Interesting." He commented._

"_Oh yes, so much." Just after she replied, she felt Gabe's lips on hers. Catherine pulled away._

"_What?" He asked._

"_You're in the middle of teaching." She replied, then entered the classroom, once again, taking her seat._


	7. Chapter 7

_**Chapter 7**_

_It was now the last day of classes before the Christmas break, Christmas eve to be precise. The Gryffindor's were in their last potions class. There were twenty minutes left, and things weren't going so well between Catherine and Severus._

_Once again, as usual, Catherine hadn't been paying attention, and Snape was rather angry, again._

"_If you don't want to do work, you may as well stop bothering."_

"_And what if I already have?" Catherine stood up from her seat, advancing on her professor._

"_Then leave my class."_

"_Why should I? I'm here to get an education, I just don't want one from you."_

"_Catherine." Snape sighed, "If you don't want your education completed here, you may as well switch sides, go back to Canada. Go home." His voice was filled with anger._

"_I am home." Cate was just as mad, if not more, "And you know that." She growled._

"_Then why did you go to Canada?"_

"_Hey!" Catherine shouted, now only a foot away from him. "I'm not the one who jumped over to the dark side to serve Voldemort!" There wasn't even a mila-second before Severus's hand came in contact with his daughters cheek._

"_GET OUT OF MY CLASS NOW!!!!" Snape roared. Cate's cheek stung in a great amount of pain, he had hit her much harder than before. Catherine grabbed her bag and ran from the room, not sparing a glance to the man. As she closed the door, she heard him addressing the class._

"_Never mind that incident, we will continue with the lesson until the bell goes." Cate sighed heavily, tears fogging her vision as she walked through the halls. As she passed Professor McGonagall's office, Minerva called out to her._

"_Cate, come in here for a moment." The young woman turned around, entering the office._

"_Yes Professor?" She asked, smoothing her long hair behind her shoulders._

"_Are you all right?"_

"_Yeah, I'll be fine. It's nothing." Cate waved it off as Minerva raised an eyebrow._

"_Okay . . . " The woman paused, "Catherine, Elena left on a trip for The Order this morning. She won't be returning for a while."_

"_How dangerous is it?" McGonagall paused._

"_Not very, she'll do perfectly fine. Don't worry."_

"_All right. Thanks Professor." Cate smiled lightly, then left the office._

_A few hours later, all the students, except for: Catherine, Ron, Harry, Hermione, Ginny, two Ravenclaw first years, and two Hufflepuff fourth years, were now gone. The Christmas eve feast had already been completed, and most of the students were up in their house towers, relaxing. Catherine however, was not. The young woman had just entered Professor Beckinsale's office._

"_Cate, it's good to see you again." The man greeted, then leaned in, kissing her softly._

"_Same to you." She replied, leaning her head against his chest. Gabe kissed her head softly, leading down to her lips._

_Not even a second after their lips touched, the door to the office flew open, causing the couple to tear apart. Professor Snape stood there, a very smug look on his face._

"_Well, well, well . . . " He took three slow steps into the room. "Teacher and student, caught together. Beckinsale, you know you could be fired for this, right?" Snape commented, then turned to the young woman, "And dear Catherine, you could be expelled."_

"_Actually," She shot back, "I can't be expelled." Severus glared at her, trying to control his anger. Not only had he found a professor and a student together, it was his daughter, and the teacher he hated most._

"_Than I have no choice but to force you to end it." Cate glanced back at Gabe, he was clearly terrified._

"_Yes Severus." He replied. Catherine smacked his side not-so-gently._

"_You can't give into people that easily." She shrieked, turning to him._

"_You're just like your mother." Snape muttered, Cate whipped around._

"_Excuse me?!?!"_

"_I said that you're just like your mother. Just as willing and slu . . . " He was cut off by a smack to his cheek._

"_How dare you! My mother was nothing like that! Besides, you insulted yourself there too. We're not ending the relationship." Severus rubbed his arm gently as she spoke. Catherine turned back to Gabe, beginning to close an arm around him. At that exact moment, Severus grabbed onto her left forearm, pulling her away, a searing pain went through both of them, causing Cate to fall to the floor. Snape ripped his hand away, pulling back, toward the doorway. On his daughter's arm, was a hand print, bruised and etched into her skin. Severus looked over at Professor Beckinsale._

"_You'll end it, or more of this will happen." He glared down at Cate as she stood up, her right hand clinging to her arm._

"_You're an ass Severus." She muttered before fleeing the room._


	8. Chapter 8

**Chapter 8**

_Christmas day had now reached Hogwarts. When everyone woke up, presents filled the end of their beds. Excitedly, they ripped off the wrappings, greeted everyone else, and headed down to the Great Hall for breakfast._

_One table sat in the middle of the hall. Professor's Dumbledore, McGonagall, Beckinsale, Sprout, and Hagrid sat there, along with four other students. Ginny, Ron, Harry, Hermione and Catherine (whose cheek was bruised, and arm marked) approached the table, sitting down._

"_Good morning and Happy Christmas to you all." Dumbledore greeted joyfully. A few students smiled in return. The golden platters infront of them then filled with delicious food. The table ate in silence for the first while. This silence was broken when Cate brushed her hair back with her left hand._

"_Catherine!" Minerva shrieked, causing near everyone to jump in their seats, "Where did you get that mark from?" Cate whipped her arm out of sight before anyone else could see it._

"_I...hit my arm on the door yesterday." She replied quickly. McGonagall raised an eyebrow at the young woman. Cate gave her a hard glare back. The matter was left at that when a barn owl flew into the Hall, dropping a letter at Cate's place, and flew off. Hurriedly, she ripped it open, her eyes tearing across the parchment. It read:_

'_**I am deeply sorry to be the one to tell you this, but your black cocker spaniel, 'Bella', was killed last night.'**_

_It was unsigned, and the writing was only vaguely familiar, but Catherine knew who it was from, and what it meant._

"_No!" She gasped, dropping the letter and fleeing from the hall. Hermione reached over, picking it up, muttering to herself._

"_I am deeply sorry to be the one to tell you this, but your black cocker spaniel 'Bella' was killed last night." She lowered the parchment, Snape's head snapped up, "I don't get it." She muttered. The letter then flew from her hand to Snape's, he read it for himself, then folded it, placing it down on the table._

"_It obviously means that her dog was killed." He replied cooly. Professor Dumbledore glanced over at him, a sympathetic look in his eyes._

"_You may want to go find her Severus, she might want to speak with you. My guess is that Miss Catherine is on her way to Minerva's office." Snape nodded, then left the Hall._

_Around the table, eight blank faces stared back at Dumbledore and McGonagall as the teachers continued to eat._

_Catherine however, was too far away for her father to catch her, she had already left Hogwarts._

_The first person Cate saw when she emerged at Grimmauld Place was Charlie Weasley. As she needed comfort, she latched onto him in a hug, and cried into his shoulder. Sympathetically, the young man rubbed her back, he had been with Lupin when he wrote the letter the letter to Cate, and half knew the pain she was going through. As The Order knew what had happened to Elena, Lupin and Charlie had volunteered to spend their Christmas day at Grimmauld Place._

_Close to a minute had passed when Catherine raised her tear stained face._

"_Thank-you Charlie." She said quietly._

"_No problem." He smiled as she softly pulled away. "Do you want to sit down?" He asked._

"_Sure." Cate replied weakly, following Charlie into the kitchen. Reamus Lupin turned around from the counter when the two entered._

"_Ah . . . Catherine. I expected to see you today." He greeted, smiling. "How are you?"_

"_Not the greatest." She replied dully, plopping herself down in a chair at the table. Charlie flicked his wand as he sat down beside her, two mugs of coffee appeared infront of them. "Thanks." The young woman picked up the mug in both hands, sipping it slowly. Lupin sat down opposite of the two._

"_So . . . " He began, "How have things been?" He asked._

"_Pretty good." Cate brushed her hair off her face, forgetting about the bruise. Charlie immediately noticed._

"_What the bloody hell happened to you?" He raised his hand up to the fist-sized purple mark._

"_Oh it's nothing." She waved it off, "I just got in another fight with Severus." Lupin dropped his fork, wide eyed._

"_What do you mean, another?" _

"_We've been in many fights so far. Three of which were physical. The bruise came from class yesterday." She paused, "But I have a feeling that this, might interest you more." Catherine raised her left arm onto the table, showing her two companions the hand print bruise on her forearm. Charlie's jaw dropped, he froze, mug halfway to his mouth. Lupin was still wide eyed._

"_Severus did this to you?" Reamus asked._

"_No one else can."_

"_True . . . very true. Did he know what he was doing?"_

"_I don't think he had the slightest idea."_

"_I'd better go alert the rest of the crowd. You're the first child to be marked that we know of." Reamus hurried from the kitchen, grabbed his cloak, and left Grimmauld Place._

_Charlie turned to face Catherine, his mouth now closed, even though he was still in shock._

"_You're related to Snape?"_

"_Unfortunately, yes. I'm his daughter. Me and . . . " She stopped, not wanting to think about her deceased mother. "I grew up without him." She finished. However, the young man could sense the pain in her eyes. He placed an arm around her, hugging her tightly. Cate hugged him back just as tightly._


	9. Chapter 9

**Chapter 9**

_It was now just past 5:30 on Christmas. Catherine had spent the day at Grimmauld Place talking with Charlie. After finding out that her mother had been killed, she needed someone who would understand to talk to. Throughout the day, Charlie and herself talked a lot, exposing everything about themselves, all the pain they had gone through, and past experiences. The pair hugged tightly before Cate left for Hogwarts._

_The young woman entered the Great Hall a little late for dinner. Everyone had already begun eating, they looked up as she entered._

"_Catherine, I didn't expect to se you tonight." Dumbledore looked rather surprised, maybe he had expected her to stay at Grimmauld Place._

"_It's Christmas." She responded weakly, siting down. "I couldn't afford to miss it." She smiled lightly, then served herself a small portion of food._

_The meal was going rather good, and it was rather quiet. Cate felt Snape's eyes on her every so often. SHe knew he must be in some pain, the question was, how much? A sudden burst of pain on her left arm broke her out of her thoughts. Dropping her fork with a clatter, she grabbed onto her arm, slightly wincing in pain. Professor McGonagall looked from Cate to Snape, whose hand was also twitching slightly in pain, resisting the temptation to grab his arm._

_Minerva looked over at the young woman sitting across from her._

"_Catherine, are you all right?" The burning then went away, she withdrew her hand._

"_Yes, I'm fine."_

"_Better than this morning I presume?"_

"_A bit." Hermione turned to look at Cate._

"_If you don't mind me asking, why were you so upset over your dog dying?" She asked. Tears blurred up her deep brown eyes as she turned back to the teen._


	10. Chapter 10

**Chapter 10**

_Two weeks had passed since Christmas. Catherine had kept to herself for most of it, as she was still greatly saddened by the death of Elena. The other time, she spent at Grimmauld Place. This time was spent doing work for The Order, and visiting. Mostly with Charlie. The Christmas break had allowed them to get to know each other much better._

_However, it was now Monday, and time for potions. Catherine and Snape's first face to face meeting since Christmas. (Since the fight, Cate had been avoiding him at all costs). _

_The young woman walked into the Great Hall a tad late for breakfast, sitting across from Harry and Ron. Parvati, Lavender and Hermione were no where to be seen._

"_Morning." She greeted, picking up a piece of toast._

"_Morning." Ron replied._

"_Are you feeling better?" Harry asked sympathetically._

"_Yeah." Cate responded, "I've done a lot of talking to people over the break. Let everything out, found out everything about how she was killed." She bit into her toast._

"_I see." Harry replied. Catherine chewed on her breakfast, then swallowed hard._

"_How have you been? Anything weird going on?"_

"_Not really. On Christmas eve, I got a really bad pain in my scar."_

"_After dinner, while I was out?"_

"_Yeah." She nodded thoughtfully. Harry raised an eyebrow._

"_You don't happen to know why, do you?"_

"_Of course now. Why would you think that?"'_

"_Well . . . " Ron began, "You did seem like you knew. And you're friends with Charlie, who's in The . . . " He was cut short bu a sharp elbowing in the ribs from Harry and a slap on the hand from Cate._

"_Ron!" She snapped, "You know you're not supposed to talk about that here!"_

"_Right . . . sorry" His face flushed a bit, he looked down at his watch. "We should get going now. Snape 'll kill us if we're late for our first class back."_

"_Yeah."_

_The three of them stood up from Gryffindor table, and left for potions. The class went rather well, Snape had them write notes the entire period. He was rather quiet, only spoken when spoken to, or when giving orders. He even let them leave a couple of seconds early. _

_Gryffindor's then filed into Professor Beckinsale's room for defence against the dark arts. This class was a bit more rough for Cate._

_Halfway through Beckinsale's lecture, a sharp rapping on the door interrupted him. He flicked his want, and the door flew open, there stood Severus._

"_Good morning Professor." He greeted cooly, "I was wondering if I could borrow one of your students."_

"_Why of course." Beckinsale had been very intimidated by Snape since the event on Christmas even. Snape leaned into the room._

"_Catherine, come with me. Bring your things, this may take a while." Sighing, the young woman shoved her things into her bag, swung it over her shoulder, and left the room. Snape began walking in silence, leading her to his office. He closed the door after they had both entered. Cate dropped her bag and sat down heavily._

"_What did I do this time?" She asked. Severus sat down across from her at his desk._

"_Nothing. I need to speak with you. I figured that it would be best to wait until classes were back in."_

"_All right. What do you need?" Cate crossed her arms across her stomach, leaning back._

"_Catherine, we've both known since the first potions class way back in September that you are my daughter. Neither of us really acknowledged that until Christmas. Now, I just want a chance to explain myself before you go tearing off again."_

"_Go ahead." The young woman was filled with a feeling she had never felt before, other than toward her mother._

"_Seventeen years ago, I did two of the stupidest things a man could do. I left you and Elena, and I went to the dark side. As soon as the war was over, I went back home, and found you both hone. There was no note, no sign of life, it was as if you had never been there before. _

_I spent the next years searching for you and Elena. I searched through records, sent dozens of owls, but nothing worked. Seven years ago, I waited anxiously, thinking that you might possibly be coming to Hogwarts, but yo didn't. Four years after that, I spent waiting, until Albus told me where you were. Elena was wanted back in The Order, and they wanted you to come over here as well. I was told to figure out a way to get you into Hogwarts, so I arranged with Flueracot's to send some dancers over._

_When I saw your face up on that stage, I knew immediately who you were. There was no mistake. I wasn't so surprised when you told me you were in The Order, it was expected._

_I am terribly sorry for making you think that I never tried to contact you. And I am truly sorry to have gotten in so many fights with you, especially for marking you. Please, forgive me?" Cate looked up at the man, tears rolling slowly down her soft cheeks._

"_How could I not?" She whispered, "Mum's gone, you're the only person I have left in this world."_

"_Thank-you." Snape then did a very rare thing, he smiled. "I'm afraid however, that you won't be able to move in after school. With The Dark Lord searching for death eaters and their children, it won't be safe. I advise you to stay at Grimmauld Place, I'm sure Reamus won't mind."_

"_That's fine." She replied, "I'm already accustomed to Grimmauld Place, it'll be good for the summer."_

"_All right." Severus sighed, "You're turning eighteen in February, the seventeenth, why are you in the sixth year?"'_

"_Professor McGonagall wanted me to be available to keep an eye on Harry for the next few years."_

"_Oh. Potter, of course." Snape stood up, "We all must keep a close eye on him."'_

"_I know." Catherine stood up as well, picking up her bag. "Thank-you Severus. You should have explained all this months ago." Hesitantly, the young woman hugged him, quickly, before leaving the room. _


	11. Chapter 11

**Chapter 11**

_A few days had passed since Snape had explained everything to Catherine, and things hadn't changed. During their talk, she had forgave him, but truly, she hadn't. It would take a bit more talk before Cate would fully forgive the man who left her at age one._

_At the moment, Severus sat in Albus Dumbledore's office. He had waited almost five months while pain built up inside of him, he needed to get it out._

"_Severus, what has brought you to my office?" Dumbledore asked softly. "I presume it has to do with your daughter."_

"_Yes." Snape sighed heavily, "When Catherine first arrived, I thought I could immediately straighten things out with her and Elena. That plan however, didn't go so well. By November, I had hit her, but she deserved it."_

"_Severus, need I remind you that hitting students is very wrong?"_

"_No sir." He replied quietly, "But Cate got was she was asking for. The first few months at Hogwarts, she was very disrespectful, it was slightly sickening to see what she had grown up to be like."_

"_Miss Catherine went through a rather rough childhood. You left her when she was barely past the age of one. I'm not sure how she grew up, but I'm sure it wasn't good."_

"_I know." Snape sighed lightly, "Somewhere beneath her toughness is a little girl who grew up without a father. Cate didn't learn everything she should have about life."_

"_What do you mean by that?" Dumbledore was very helpful in getting people to confide in him._

"_Well, take Christmas eve for example, I went to deliver some papers to Beckinsale, and found Catherine in his arms." He stopped, the pain of that day coming back to him, "It was horrible. To find the girl that was supposed to be sweet and innocent in the arms of a teacher. Beckinsale wasn't forcing her into it either, she accepted it fully." He paused, Christmas eve had been terrible. That scum of a teacher, holding his only daughter like that, it disgusted him. The worst part was finding out that while Catherine was hitting and fighting with her father, she had given her heart to Beckinsale. And then he had broken it, ripping it in two, right infront of Severus._

"_I will take note of that." Albus looked at his staff member over his glasses. "Severus, you seem to have gone through many troubles this year, and I'm sure your family has too. I advise you to speak with Catherine again, she has not truly forgiven you quite yet. She has gone through a lot this year, if you share, things might work out better. Speaking to her about Elena may help."_

"_Thank-you Headmaster." Snape replied, standing up and leaving the office. He had almost forgotten about Elena's death._

_Memories came flooding back to him as he entered his living chambers._

_The day they met:_

_It was his first week at Hogwarts, young Elena, her sleek hair bouncing behind her as she walked toward him. She smiled, sticking out a hand._

"_I'm Elena." The preteen greeted._

"_Severus." He mumbled back, shaking her hand quickly. Eleven-year-old Elena frowned, disappointed that he wasn't more sociable._

"_Well, see you around." She waved and smiled before bouncing off._

_Their first kiss:_

A seventeen-year-old Severus walked through the hallway back to the Slytherine tower, when a voice called out to him.

"Severus!" The voice came from a nearby classroom. Cautiously, the young man entered it. Elena was inside, her eyes were slightly red.

"Elena? What's wrong?" He questioned, closing the door.

"Lisa, my little sister," She whimpered, "was hit by a muggle car yesterday. She was killed." With that, the young woman flung her arms around Snape's neck, hugging him tightly. He hugged back, letting Elena stay there as long as she wanted. Soon enough, she looked up into his eyes, her face free of tears.

"Are you okay?" He asked, not knowing what else to say.

"I will be." She paused, smiling softly, "Thank-you Severus." The seventeen-year-old Elena then leaned in, kissing him softly on the lips.

_The days went on wonderfully from then on in. For three years the two dated, sometimes, it was on and off, as they were having trouble seeing each other, and getting into minor fights, but, each time they forgave or saw each other, they were more in love than before. After those three years, Severus asked Elena to marry him. Of course, she immediately said yes, and five months later, in early June, the couple wed. A while later, after another two and a half years had passed, Elena gave birth to Catherine. Soon after this however, was when things started to go bad._

It was late into the night, past two in the morning. The house was filled with darkness, except for the dim light in the corner. For the sixth night im a row, Elena sat up waiting for her husband. Catherine lay asleep on the couch beside her mother.

Finally, the door to the house swung open, and Severus entered. His eyes went straight to the corner where his wife sat.

"Elena? What are you doing still up?"

"Where were you?" She completely ignored his comment.

"What?" The man stepped into the living room.

"Where were you?" Elena stood up, "Severus, you've been out extremely late for the past week, you're never here anymore!"

"Elena, I'm doing some extra work."

"For who?" The sudden raise of her voice caused one-year-old Cate to wake on her spot on the couch. "Sev, you're working for him, aren't you? You've been serving Voldemort all these late nights, haven't you?"

"Elena!" He said sharply, "Stop! Listen, it isn't safe for you and Catherine here anymore. There's going to be so much danger coming this way. You need to leave."

"Don't tell me you're leaving us for him!"

"Elena, I'm sorry." Snape turned, leaving the room. As he left, he heard Catherine calling for him in her infant way. He didn't pause to look back.

_Snape collapsed down into an armchair at his last thought. The worst thing he had ever done, he had just fully remembered. Now he realized that he should have gone straight to Grimmauld Place and sorted things out with Elena, before working things out with Cate. Maybe she would have forgiven him, and they could have loved again._


	12. Chapter 12

**Chapter 12**

_The same time that Severus had been talking to Dumbledore, Catherine was entering Professor McGonagall's office_.

"_The door's open." Minerva called from inside. The young woman pushed open the door and walked in, careful to make sure that it was securely closed._

"_Professor . . . may I talk to you for a couple of minutes?"_

"_Why of course!" She seemed surprised that Cate had even bothered asking. "Sit down." Cate sat. "My guess is that you're here to speak about Elena. Am I right?"_

"_Yes." Catherine sighed heavily, "It's just so weird to not have her here anymore." Tears began forming in her deep brown eyes. "After so long of only having a mother, having only her to rely on, it's awkward. Mum was always who I went to talk with about anything she always helped me through life, made me fell better when I was down. It's been harder to talk to her since I moved over here, with no letters being able to get to her. But now . . . now I fell so . . . so empty. I don't really know how to describe it, it's weird."_

"_I know the feeling." McGonagall responded from the other side of the desk. "Catherine, I'm hoping that wherever you disappeared to on Christmas, you spoke with someone about what happened."_

"_I did." Cate replied, "My instinct was to go to Grimmauld Place. I talked with Charlie nearly the whole day."_

"_Charlie Weasley?"_

"_Yes."_

"_Ah...I see."_

"_I've spoken with him quite a lot since then. He's rather good with advice, it's been great to be around him. He really cheers me up."_

"_I can understand that." Minerva sighed lightly. "We've all had our shares of problems, most which we will talk about. Some however, will remain inside us until we find the right person to talk to."_

"_Yeah." Catherine sighed, "I know that I still need to speak with Severus though. It's just not right to not discuss what happened with him."_

"_Yes. Catherine, I must ask this though, why do you always address your father by Severus?"_

"_I'm not sure actually. As I was growing up, whenever Elena spoke about him, which wasn't often, she called him Severus. I also never cared, or considered him to be my father, with him leaving so early in my life."_

"_I see." Minerva replied, lost for words._

"_Well," Cate began as she stood up, "Thank-you for letting me speak with you professor."_

"_Anytime dear." The woman smiled as Catherine left the office, closing the door behind her._

_As she walked through the halls of Hogwarts, memories of her childhood came flowing back to her._

_The first time she had mentioned Severus to her mother_:

_Elena sat at the kitchen table, going through paper work. A four-year-old Catherine approached her from the hallway._

"_Mummy?"_

"_Yes dear?" The woman didn't look up from her work._

"_Can I ask you something?"_

"_Go right ahead." She still did not look up._

"_Where's Daddy?" Elena's head shot up._

"_Catherine!" She shrieked, "Never, ever mention your father in this house again. He's a bastard, a very, very bad and cruel man. Why do you think he left us? He never loved either of us!"_

"_Mummy!" The toddler screeched, "Don't talk abut my daddy like that!" With that, she stormed from the room, and into her bedroom._

"_Catherine!" Her mother called as she was just slamming the door, "Go to your room!"_

"_I'm already in my room!" _

_Seven years later, Catherine was accepted into Flueracot's, where she found out more about the war that had happened. The instant that she and Elena arrived back at the house, Cate was dying to bombard the woman with questions. _

Catherine hurried back down the stairs from dumping her trunk off. Running into the kitchen, she stopped dead infront of the table where her mother sat.

"Where's the fire?" The woman asked, looking up.

"Severus was a death eater, wasn't he?"

"Cate! Where on earth did you get that from? You don't have contact with him, do you?"

"No. There were some girls at school talking about the war. They said that Voldemort had major supporters called death eaters, and that they gathered about a year before the war. Which would be when we left." Elena sighed heavily.

"Yes, Severus was a death eater. I didn't know at first, I presumed he was working...or possibly having an affair. Soon enough, I did figure out what he was doing, that night was when he left us."

"So...he...he killed people for no reason. Innocent civilians?"

"Yes." She looked up at her eleven-year-old daughter. "I've told you many times Catherine, Severus was, and probably, to this day, remains to be, a horrible, horrible man. Do you understand?"'

"Yes Mum." Cate replied softly, then left the room

_Finally, the young woman reached the Gryffindor tower, hurriedly, she climbed the stairs to the common room, and collapses onto her bed._


	13. Chapter 13

**Chapter 13**

_Nearly three weeks had swept passed at Hogwarts, it was already Valentine's Day, and a Hogsmead weekend._

_Parvati, Lavender and Catherine entered the village just ahead of Harry, Ron and Hermione._

"_I have to leave you guys at noon." Parvati giggled, "I'm meeting Dean at the coffee shop." Cate raised an eyebrow at the sixteen-year-old. _

"_Really now? Is this becoming more than just friends?" She asked, Parvati giggled again._

"_Maybe."_

"_How come you didn't tell me?" Lavender shrieked._

"_I didn't want to get my hopes up too soon." Catherine looked down at her watch, it was eleven thirty-nine._

"_Guys, I hate to do this to you, but I have to leave you now."_

"_OoOo . . . does someone have a special date?"'_

"_Pfft. No!" She waved at the two teens as she jogged off to The Three Broomsticks. Cate entered the pub and headed to the room at the top of the stairs, knocking as she entered._

_Inside the room, there were two couches and three chairs all facing each other. Severus, Charlie, Arthur Weasley, and Reamus Lupin sat among them._

"_Catherine, I'm glad you could make it." Lupin greeted._

"_What else would I be doing today? Everyone's off with dates."_

"_True." He replied, Cate sat on the arm of the nearest arm chair. _

"_So . . . what is this meeting about exactly?"_

"_Well," Lupin began, "You might not know, but Severus has been doing some spying for us, as he's linked to both sides of the upcoming war."_

_At this point, just outside the door, Harry, Ron and Hermione were listening._

"_Yes." Cate responded to Reamus. Then he continued._

"_We needed to get together to find out what's going on with the other side."_

"_And there isn't much." Snape spoke up, "They're beginning to gather people together for the war, but that's all." The others nodded, "Catherine?" Her head shot up, "How's your mark?"_

"_What do you mean?"_

"_Has it been burning? How dark is it?"_

_Outside, the three teens were in shock. Hermione turned to the other two._

"_I knew something was weird with her! She's a death eater!"_

_Inside, all five heads snapped around to look at the door. As it was a meeting for The Order, they didn't want anyone overhearing. Severus stood up, walked quickly over to the door, and flung it open._

"_Potter . . . of course." The three cringed in the thought of what he might do._

"_Harry!" Arthur ran over to the door, "What do you three think you're doing?"_

"_We uh . . . uh . . . " Harry was lost for words, "Uh . . . we . . . uh . . . we were just wondering where Cate was going."_

"_You followed me?" She shrieked, then calmly exited the room, leaving the pub._

"_Get out!" Snape spat at the other students. Obediently, the three sped from the hallway. Severus turned back to the other members of The Order, anger still filling his face. "I'll speak with her later, she won't be back."_

"_Severus, I think it's fine." Arthur replied, "Charlie could just as easily go find her later today."_

"_That sounds good Dad." Charlie patted him on the shoulder before leaving, not wanting to be surrounded by the tension that now filled the room._

_The young man walked out into the snowy street and immediately spotted Catherine, heading toward Lavender._

"_Cate!" He called out. She whipped around to face him._

"_Yes?"_

"_I was supposed to come find you, I think Snape still wants to know about your mark." He replied as her neared her. Cate sighed heavily._

"_You can tell Severus that it's been fine. It was burning when he first marked me, and then again the next day."_

"_All right." Charlie sighed also, "I better be off now, I'll see you soon." The two hugged before going off in their own directions._


	14. Chapter 14

**Chapter 14**

_Potions class, on the following Monday was just ending. As everyone gathered up their books, Snape called out, his voice louder than the chatter in the room._

"_Catherine, please stay behind for a moment!" Sighing heavily, the young woman walked up to his desk as the class left._

"_Yes?" She asked, sitting on a desk top._

"_I needed to speak with you. I don't think you fully understood me when I apologized, nor did we have time to complete our conversation on Saturday, thanks to those little brats."_

"_All right." Cate replied, "To tell you, my mark only hurt when you first did it, and the next day. It's not that dark, and it hasn't been hurting at all."_

"_Good to know. Has anyone seen it?"_

"_Students? No. Teachers, some of them."_

"_I see." He thought for a moment, "Everyone at The Order knows about it right? And that it was an accident?"_

"_Most of them. I haven't met everyone yet, but I'm sure they've heard about it."_

"_Hmph." Was his only reply._

"_Anything else?" The young woman raised an eyebrow at him. "You said that you thought I hadn't fully understood you before."_

"_I uh . . . it . . . yeah . . . that's about it." He seemed to be struggling for words. _

"_All I can say to that is this: ever since you left Mom and I, I haven't had the warmest feelings toward you. As you know, we never received any type of contact from you, so it seemed like you hated us. Not to mention the fact that Mom was poisoning my mind about how horrid you were." Catherine stood up from the desk top and left the room._

_Back in the Gryiffindor common room, Hermione, Ron and Harry sat in a group of armchairs in the corner by the entrance, talking in hushed voices. _

"_Hermione, are you sure that Cate's a death eater? I mean, my Dad and brother were in the room with her. So was Lupin." Ron protested._

"_They were talking about spying, and marks. Obviously the bruise was some form of the dark mark. I'm telling you, she's either a death eater, or some sort of spy."_

"_On our side." Ron stressed, "You should drop this. She knows about The Order, both her parents are . . . err . . . were for one, in it. Cate's one of Charlie's close friends, trust me, she's no death eater!" _

_Throughout all of this, Harry sat between his two friends in silence, his brain was working everything through, each tiny detail. He had to figure out where Catherine was really from, and what she was really doing here. Around him, Ron and Hermione continued to argue._

_At that moment, the portrait hole opened and in walked Catherine. Ron and Hermione froze mid-sentence._

"_Yes?" Cate asked, looking over at them, and eyebrow raised._

"_Nothing." They both replied._

"_Okay . . . " She replied hesitantly, then headed to the dormitory._


	15. Chapter 15

**Chapter 15**

_Cate quickly scribbled down one last sentence onto her charms essay then shoved it inside her bag. It was late Friday night of the Easter break, and she had promised to do some work with The Order. The young woman picked up a notebook and left the dormitory for Professor McGonagall's office. Within five minutes, she had entered Grimmauld Place. _

"_Catherine, I'm glad you could make it." Tonks greeted her, "I thought you might be caught up with homework."_

"_Nah." Cate replied, sitting down in a chair at the kitchen table, "I've been finishing it pretty fast, as I've done the topics already."_

"_True." Charlie entered the kitchen as Tonks replied, an empty mug in his hand._

"_Cate! I didn't know you were coming tonight." He placed the mug on the counter, then walked over to the table. "How are you?" The two hugged tightly._

"_I'm pretty good, rather tired, but good."_

"_Glad to hear." Charlie smiled, "Do you know what we're working on this weekend?"_

"_No idea." Catherine replied, taking a muffin off the platter in the center of the table, then turning to Tonks; "What are we doing?"_

"_Well, from what I've heard, you're just here to hang out. Moody's going to come by tomorrow to look at your arm, but aside from that, there's nothing planned."_

"_Hmm." Cate yawned heavily, then stood up for the table. "I'm going to head off to beg. G'Night." She smiled and left the room. _

_Just as she closed her bedroom door, Cate heard the sound of Charlie walking down the hallway. Quickly, the eighteen-year-old (remember, she's a year ahead, and her birthday's in the middle of the year), changed into her pyjama's and picked up her toothbrush and left for the bathroom, nearly running into Charlie outside her door._

"_Oh! Sorry!" She shrieked quietly, jumping up slightly. Charlie laughed softly, placing an arm around her and gently guiding her infront of him._

"_Go ahead." He smiled, Cate smiled back, then entered the washroom and closed the door behind her._

_As she brushed her teeth, Charlie floated into her mind, as he had been for the past few weeks at what seemed to be any moment that her mind drifted off, which had slightly shocked her. She had only known him for around eight months (they had met in late August), yet, they were already extremely close. Catherine quickly shook out of her trance, spat out her toothpaste and left the rom. Charlie grabbed her gently around the waist, pulling her into a hug._

"_Have a good night." He whispered, kissing her on the head softly, then left for the washroom. Cate turned to her bedroom, closed the door, and flopped down onto the bed, pulling the blankets around her._

_Warm sunlight shone through the gap in Catherine's curtains. Groaning heavily, the eighteen-year-old rolled over, looking at the clock._

"_Eleven-forty-two." She muttered to herself, "Later than I thought." Cate threw the blankets off her body, and climbed out of bed. Within the next two minutes, she had thrown her hair up in a messy bun and had put on jeans, and a red tank-top. Pushing a loose strand of hair behind her ear, Catherine headed down the stairs, into the kitchen._

"_Morning." She mumbled, walking over to the fridge, getting a cup of juice and a muffin._

"_Afternoon more like it." Charlie replied from the table where he sat with Lupin. Cate pulled out a chair with her foot and plopped down into it. Up until the three heard the front door open, the house was silent._

"_Hello?" A rough voice called from the entrance hall. _

"_In the kitchen Alastor." Lupin called back. Moody clunked into the kitchen, pulling out a chair with his ragged hand._

"_This the girl?" He asked, gesturing toward Cate._

"_Yes." Lupin replied, "This is Catherine, Severus's daughter." _

"_Lovely to meet you." Moody greeted._

"_You too." Cate responded, glancing over at Charlie, and questionable look on her face._

"_Can I see this mark of yours?" The man asked, Catherine dropped her left arm onto the table, rotating it so he could see the entire mark. "Yup." He muttered, "This is definitely a rebirth of the dark mark." He looked up at Cate's face. "You say Snape did this to you?"_

"_Yes."_

"_I see." He paused for a moment, thinking, "So, any death eaters who have children, and are still actively involved with You-Know-Who, the Malfoy's for instance, have to be watched. Carefully. Catherine here could easily find out if the kids have the mark, arms covered or not." He smirked._

"_Hey!" Cate shrieked , quickly pulling her arm off the table, away from him._

"_I didn't say you needed to do anything."_

"_Alastor, please, keep on subject." Lupin ordered, not looking up from the Daily Prophet._

"_Sorry." Moody muttered, "Well, just keep an eye out for the same mark on others. If it starts to burn horridly, ice it a bit, it might help. If not, deal with it." He stood up from his seat, "Reamus, I do believe we have some work to do."_

"_Ah, yes." The man stood up too, grabbing a traveling cloak and leaving with Moody._

"_Is Tonks gone?" Cate asked her only companion at the time, Charlie._

"_Yeah. She left this morning."_

"_Hmfhp." Was all the young woman could say through her muffin. She swallowed heavily. "Does this place have a tv?"_

"_I'm pretty sure there's one in the cupboard in the sitting room." Charlie responded, "Why?"_

"_I was thinking we could watch a movie or two. There isn't much else to do here."_

"_True." The young man drained the rest of his drink, "You done?" He asked Cate, she nodded, and the dishes vanished. "Now, how about tha movie?" Catherine smiled, following him into the sitting room._

_Four movies and a decent supper later, Catherine lay on the couch, her head laying against Charlie's chest. The two were rather tired, and after a day of movies, had fallen asleep on the couch. When Lupin returned to Grimmauld Place, he only smiled, placing a blanket over them. He didn't want to bother waking them up. _


	16. Chapter 16

**Chapter 16**

_Months had passed since the Easter break. It was the last day students were at Hogwarts, exams were completed and students spent their time relaxing around the school and grounds. It was just about eight in the morning and time for breakfast._

_Smiling faces of students and staff alike entered the Great Hall. Chattering filled the hall as food appeared on the golden platters infront of them, and everyone began to eat. Suddenly, a flock of owls came flying toward the house tables. Some of them had mail, most of them were just returning to their owners for the journey home. Amidst them, were five jet-black owls. These owls held blank envelopes, addressed in red ink, the flew only to specific people:_

_Malfoy, Crabbe, Goyle, Theodore Nott and Catherine. _

_The owls dropped the letters and immediately flew away. Catherine looked down at the envelope infront of her, the red ink shimmering in the light of the hall. She then realized what she was looking at, wasn't ink. Her head snapped up in the direction of the staff table, both Professor McGonagall and Severus were looking down toward her._

_The eighteen-year-old reached to grab the letter, once her fingers touched it, she re-coiled. It had sent a searing pain up her left arm. Wincing slightly, she picked it up and hurried up to the staff table._

"_What the bloody hell is this?" She asked quietly, throwing the letter down beside her father's plate as she crouched down at the corner of the table._

"_I have no idea." He looked down at her. "My guess is it's from Him"_

"_Obviously." Cate rolled her eyes, "Try to touch it."_

"_What?"'_

"_Try to pick it up." The man reached out, his fingers touched it and he dropped in immediately._

"_Did anyone else get this?"_

"_Yes. I'm not really sure who though? The other owls flew over to the Slytherin table."_

"_Of course." Snape muttered, he then grabbed the letter and touched Catherine's arm, "Come with me." The man led her into a small chamber off to the side of the Great Hall._

"_Why are we in here?"_

"_Open it now." He instructed, handing the envelope to her. The yong woman slid her finger under the flap and ripped it open._

_A silver mist like material floated out of the envelope, swirling around itself, a voice then began to speak._

"_Catherine Alice Snape, daughter of Severus and Elena Snape, you have been marked by Severus, a fellow death eater," Snape scowled at this point, "With this mark, comes a great burden of responsibility. You are now a death eater, one of the next generation. You will be required to attend al meetings, which will begin in April of next year. All death eaters will be gathered by May, and we will attack soon after. You will be called at your own time. Come here." The silver cloud formed a dark alleyway, then it formed a darkened pub, then spelled out 'Knockturn Alley, Number 172'. _

_Catherine studied it, memorizing it, as did Snape. With a poof, it vanished, the envelope ripped itself up, burst into flames, and also vanished._

"_You're not going." Snape stated harshly._

"_Excuse me?" Cate shrieked. "I'm eighteen! You can't tell me what to do anymore."_

"_I don't want you getting hurt. There are things far worse than death when you're with that crowd." Concern was growing on his face. "You're needed with The Order."_

"_Fine." She agreed, "But there's no way you can keep me from fighting later on." Severus smiled lightly._

"_I know." He then turned and left the room, Cate soon followed._


	17. Chapter 17

**Chapter 17**

_The Hogwarts Express was beginning to near Kings Cross Station at nearly supper time that night. Catherine had forced herself to remember the information of Voldemort's letter until she had a chance to write it down._

_She sat in a compartment with Ron, Harry, Hermione and Ginny (as she was going back to Grimmauld Place with Charlie, she had to stick close to Ron. Severus had said it was not safe for her to return home with him, she was to go to The Order.), as she sat there, she stared off into space, thinking._

"_Cate . . . " Ron began, then louder, "Cate!" The eighteen-year-old shook out of her trance._

"_Yes?"_

"_Are you all right?"_

"_Yeah." She looked around, absorbing her surroundings. "You guys know who all the death eaters are, right?"_

"_Yes." Harry replied quietly, "Why?"_

"_Do they have any kids at Hogwarts?"_

"_Malfoy, Crabbe, Goyle and some other kid, Theodore Nott." Ron replied, taking the burden from Harry. Hermione glanced at the other two from the corner of her eye._

"_Hmph." Cate was about to return to her thoughts when the train pulled into the station. The five of them grabbed their trunks and pets, and headed off the train, and the platform._

_On the other side of the barrier they met up with Mr and Mrs Weasley, Lupin, Charlie, The Grangers, and The Dursleys (though, they were standing far away from the others.)_

_Mrs Weasley approached them, hugging each of them, minus Catherine, who Charlie had managed to steal away. The young man wrapped her into a tight hug, then kissed her head softly before letter her go._

"_How was your year?" He asked._

"_Overall, it was pretty good. A lot of crap went on, but it was good." She sighed happily, smiling._

"_How'd your last couple of weeks go?"_

"_Easy. I was done the exams fairly fast, and didn't bother reviewing much." She paused, "I did get an interesting letter earlier today though." Charlie raised an eyebrow._

"_Really now? From who?"_

"_Uh . . . we'll talk about that later." She patted his shoulder as Mrs Weasley approached them._

"_Hello dear." She greeted, pulling Cate into a hug, "Was your year well?"_

"_Yes." The young woman replied, pulling away._

"_I'm glad to hear that." Mrs Weasley smiled, then leaned in closer. "Charlie's going to drive you home, Tonks is there right now, and her and Reamus will be checking in throughout the summer. We're heading off to The Burrow, we'll meet up with you in late August. All right?"_

"_Yes." Cate nodded._

"_You two should go soon. Tonks is waiting for you to arrive."_

"_Okay." Charlie muttered, taking Catherine's trunk, they headed out to a muggle car that had been rented (not from the ministry)._

_Within twenty minutes, and one comfortably silent car ride later, the two had reached Grimmauld Place. Once inside, Tonks looked up from her place in the sitting room._

"_Catherine, it's good to see you." She greeted, smiling._

"_You too." The young woman smiled._

"_There's something here for you . . . it's from your mother." The woman held up a small brown box. "Don't worry, I haven't looked inside." She added quickly._

"_Thanks." Cate replied, taking it from her. "I'll just drop this off in my room." She stated to Charlie, then, levitating her trunk, she headed up the stairs. _

_When she got to her room, Catherine placed the package on the end of her bed and opened it. Inside, her two guns, and holders._

"_Of course." She whispered to herself, "Muggle weapons . . . barely any witches or wizards know what they are, or look like. Brilliant." Catherine then took the box and place it into her trunk. The lid slammed shunt, causing the eighteen-year-old to not hear the door open behind her. When she turned around, she found Charlie directly behind her, the shock of it caused her to jump._

"_Sorry." He apologized in a whisper, "I didn't mean to scare you."_

"_It's all right." When Cate replied, she found herself also whispering. "What do you . . . " The young woman was cut short by the sudden feeling of Charlie's lips against hers. Softly, Catherine wrapped her hands around his neck, kissing the young man back just as passionately. _


End file.
